All of you Scott Pilgrim fans, here’s a whole new edition to purchase and display with pride—a reprint of the one that started it all, SCOTT PILGRIM’S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE, in full color by Nathan Fairbairn, in a deluxe 6×9 hardcover. AND a new cover! The news was announced at tonight’s spotlight on creator Bryan Lee O’Malley at ECCC.

And here’s a preview! Details at the end.

This August, Oni Press and Bryan Lee O’Malley will be bringing the uber-popular Scott Pilgrim series back to store shelves, but this time as an ultra-swank, 6 X 9, full-color hardcover edition. Scott Pilgrim Color Hardcover, Volume 1 reprints the Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life for the first time in full color. The digital coloring is by the Shuster Award-nominated artist Nathan Fairbairn, the colorist for Batman Incorporated and Swamp Thing, and the whole thing is capped with a new cover from O’Malley.

“Everybody loves Bryan’s black-and-white artwork,” series editor James Lucas Jones explained, “but after seeing the few color stories he did with Scott and the gang, it was hard to avoid imagining a ‘what if?’ scenario. Now those wild dreams have come true. And to have one of the best colorists in the industry at the helm, that just seals the deal.”

“It’s been eight years since the first Scott Pilgrim book was published,” Oni marketing director Cory Casoni added. “Since then, the series has seen over twenty first reprints of the original format, with over a million copies of the first volumes sold. Scott Pilgrim Color Hardcover, Volume 1 takes the familiar story from the original Scott Pilgrim series and gives it a new look. Plus it includes previously unpublished extras and bonus materials making this mighty tome one that’s required reading for Scottaholics everywhere!”

Scott Pilgrim Color Hardcover, Volume 1 will be the first of six hardcover reprints to be published bi-annually. Scott Pilgrim Color Hardcover, Volume 2 is currently scheduled for an October 2012 release.

Each volume will be sized at 6” x 9”, making it bigger than the original versions, as well. “We’re upgrading the presentation in every way,” Jones said. “The traditional black-and-white versions will be there for those who still prefer that option, but now everyone can have a choice. One, the other, or both!”

Pricing for hard cover is too high. realistically, it can be done for under 20 bucks and they will do more volume. trade paper-back will likely follow pricing for that would be good at around 12 bucks. Same thing for that too-smarter pricing will mean greater volume.

I’m surprised how well the color is working for a series originally drawn with black and white in mind. The only page that jumps out as not quite working is the double-page spread there (the main image looks awkward with such a light colored background, but then the gutters of the panels on the left side would’ve been lost).

“Pricing for hard cover is too high. realistically, it can be done for under 20 bucks and they will do more volume.”

The Fun Home hardcover was the same size as these books will be, 240 pages, only had one color, and had a $19.95 price tag. The original SP Vol. 1 was 168 pages, and with full color, I don’t think $24.99 is asking too much for a list price.

Not to mention, online retailers like Amazon will most likely offer this at a nice discount.

Everything I have read says that Oni is still printing the B&W books. It is $12 for a B&W softcover. Is it really unreasonable to expect $25 for a hardcover that is also newly coloured? I don’t know. I suspect they consulted with the people at Amazon, B&N and whatever book distributors Oni works with and crunched the numbers and came up with $25 as an optimum price.

“Scott Pilgrim Color Hardcover, Volume 1 will be the first of six hardcover reprints to be published bi-annually. Scott Pilgrim Color Hardcover, Volume 2 is currently scheduled for an October 2012 release.”

So when they say “bi-annually,” they really mean semi-annually, or in other words, two times per year. Thank goodness.

Why are hardcover comics pretentious? Hardcover prose, even genre work like romance, mystery, and science fiction, do not have this prejudice. Hardcover art books are considered beautiful objects and are routinely described as “coffee table books”, displayed for people to admire.

Hardcover editions are more durable, which makes then more cost-effective for libraries, which routinely send paperback volumes to be rebound to increase shelf life. Some even purchase library binding editions edition from Turtleback or BWI when a hardcover binding is not available.

Hey, you know what? A trade paperback edition its pretentious as well! Comics are comic books, and should be printed on crappy paper, rolled up in your back pocket, and thrown out by your mother when you discover girls and cars. They are not art or literature, but just disposable juvenile storytelling that is, at best, worthy of a brief nostalgic reminiscence when you’re fifty.

There is a great value to publishing comics as hard cover editions. Primarily, the durability ensures they’ll be around a lot longer and as Torsten points out, libraries can shelve them a lot longer for their patrons.
What most of the comics publishers have forgotten is that comics, when published in mass quantity at a lower cost helps to ensure growing the fan base. Instead, they are too focused on the limited print runs designed to create collect-ability. IF they want more kids to read their comics, they need to price them in a more competitive fashion. Ideally, hard cover can be priced under 20 bucks and the paperback under 10(yes, like manga).

I love this series. Scott Pilgrim is hilarious, the cartooning is great, and the story is literally fantastic. I originally couldn’t get behind the book because of the art, but when I got a great deal on the books I gave it a shot, and look at me now. I’m a full-on convert. The colorization is long overdue and these will make excellent birthday & Christmas gifts FOR ME!